hi, new to forum, looking for some help looking to buy new frame ,looking for longish travel hardtail frame, been looking at pace 305 / orange crush / dailledbikes alpine / dmr exalt, all so need to be good frame to pedale all day, any help on picking would be great, cheers zipfish

cotic soul,
on-one 456
chumba thing mentioned the other day (google progressive bikes)
santacruz chameleon
surly instigator

Orange Crush, Fox 36, 40mm stem & wide bars….Superb!

The price of the frame is a bargain!

what do you mean 'long travel'

120-140

or

160mm plus?

In terms of "best" it can't be anything other than the Evil Sovereign- the fastest, funnest and toughest hardtail in the world.

It builds into an incredibly stunning bike that is comfortable to ride all day, is reasonably quick uphill and pretty much keeps up with 6" bouncers downhill. I've had it singlespeed, raced it cross country, been downhilling on it, been freeriding on it It's as happy on great big drops (7 ot 8 foot plus) as it is jumping but it's happiest being pointed down and being ridden very fast. Price is down to £600 now.

This is mine-

My other choice would be a Chromag.

http://www.chromagbikes.com/frames_trl_2009.html

Just got a Kona Five-O frame, seems very nice, only got 130mm forks on it but eventually some 140mm Pikes or Thors will go on it.

My friend's got a Cotic BFe with old Pikes on it, very good. Dialled Alpine looks excellent as well.

Those Evils look like a right rip off of my Alpine…

456 with coil pikes.

Or a Bfe.

Got a genesis Alptitude on the way maybe not as hardcore or as the others but meant to be a good frame

Pace 305, or even second hand 303. Outstanding ride.

Oh, and responding to 'pedal all day'. Did the coast to coast on my 303 in five days, no problem.

Oh, and responding to 'pedal all day'. Did the coast to coast on my 303 in five days, no problem.

5 days?

What were you doing, crawling?

Long travel by my thinking is anything over 130mm, able to take new Revs, Pikes, Lyrics, Nixons, Minutes, Wotans, Fighters, 36's, so pretty much anything mentioned. Chamelion is another, Ragley as well. Steel, alloy or Ti should also be part of the equasion. Dialled bikes are lovely, got a great reputation, 456 is very popular, then there's the Stiffee to consider as well. Spoiled for choice, you are. 😀

Those Evils look like a right rip off of my Alpine…

Think you'll find it is the other way about..! 8)

I think you'llfind 'the safety bicycle' beat both of them to the punch, there is after all very limited scope for putting a few pipes together with which to suspend between two wheels. FWIW, Dirt magazine thought very highly of the DB Alpine and chose to use one for their test to see if it were possible to ride the Mega on a hardtail and I'd suggest that Dirt would be able to pry a frame from any importer/producer if they so wished if they deemed it 'better' than the Alpine for that particular test/race.

to many frames, rideing specailized enduro mod to sx trail spec top class bike, but looking for hardtial to do coast to coast on and playing around downhill on looking at about 140mm to 160mm forks, like the look of the evil frame / looking into that, cheers zip

these are much cheaper than the evil

hi nice bike, whats it like to ride all day, can you change the rear drop outs

If it sways you I think 456s may only be £125 at the moment. choice of two head angles. Normal and the summer season which is slacker.

I love mine and I don't think I've heard (m)any bad reports from owners.

The titanium version got the WhatMtb best ever hardtail prize or something. It's essentially the same as the steel but the steel is heavier.

it seems ok for riding longish ride, but not a good as my Cotic Soul.
Then gain this Alpine is a 21" TT model so is quite a bit shorter than my Cotic. A guy on here rekons he does 50 miles plus on his Alpine no problem.

No you can't change the drop outs.

They are only about 5.5lbs in weight and with a 140mm fork seem great as a regular trail hardtail. Being steel they are quite forgiving at the back.

anony body ride identiti mr hyde

My 456 SS is a great bike, from short blasts to big days out. Pedals up ok, but loves the downs.

You can get the frame for only £125 at the moment

dialled bikes alpine.

best bike i have ever ridden, would recommend it

that'd be the Orange Subzero then, see if you can find an 07 or 08, think of a hardtail Orange Patriot and you're about there! (min fork 150mm, I find 180mm to be as sweet as hell!)

Pace 303 or 305, no question for me, but maybe not for you.
Get some test rides…(if youre in the Lincs area you can have a go on my 303).

hi i do like the look of the 305, looks good to ride all day, but whats it like on the rough stuff,

what forks, in the 130mm -150mm group like fox 32 / dont know much about the pike forks

I'm selling a T45 Curtis Freeride that pisses on all of the above*.
It is currently on the bay of fleas.

* 😉

It is currently on the bay of fleas

is it? just had a look and couldn't find it… what's it listed as?

Its here >

Damn i must have missed that one on here! Oh well…..
Please post it again if it fails to sell!! 😉

Zipfish, if you're considering the Alpine, please note they are out of stock at the moment. The new Mk2 Alpine will be here in about 8 or 9 weeks.

hi, whats the difference between mk1 and mk2, and what colours